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Though the percentage of psychics within Acheron Rho is relatively small compared to the greater human population, this has not stopped a number of drugs from being developed beyond those that are medically necessary for those with MES. Some of these were accidental, resulting from failed attempts to create better MES medications or amplify MES abilities, while some more recent products were developed from the ground up as illicit substances.
The use of psychic drugs beyond those prescribed for someone with MES can be incredibly dangerous and harmful to the user’s psychic ability and wellness, and as a result the more potent the drug, the higher the probability its use is strongly discouraged or considered illegal. Madness and dysfunctional psychic abilities are common side effects, especially when a substance is abused to excess.
Reality X[]
Contrary to what its name suggests, Reality X does not technically enhance reality, but rather subverts it partially or entirely within the mind depending on the strength of dosage used. The result of lab studies in developing new MES medications, Reality X was accidentally discovered as another potential use for the poison of the Spanekada Crab of Hroa, a substance already utilized in existing MES medications. In the case of Reality X, the poison is harvested in its liquid form, distilled, diluted, and combined with several other ingredients before being administered via injection.
As a drug, Reality X instills heavy hallucinations in the user that directly relate to the dilution of the poison in initial manufacturing. The amount of the drug administered increases duration to a point before it becomes poisonous to the body and the bloodstream. For those with MES whose powers are Precognitive and Telepathic specifically, these hallucinations can interact in strange and uncontrollable ways with their psychic nature, resulting in anything from “seeing emotions,” visualizing another person’s dreams in extreme detail as part of a hallucination, and “false futures” (i.e. the user believes themselves to have stepped into a vision of the future where a duck rules an empire of chocolate cakes). Occasionally, those with MES but whose powers have developed along different paths will still receive small amounts of the above effects.
Those who use Reality X often do so in private or in groups of other people also using in safe locations, as its effects can become incredibly obvious to those around the user depending on how disjunct they become from reality. Additionally, disturbances in the user’s psychic aura are an easy giveaway to any trained psychic that something may be amiss.
Psychic side effects include minor psychic lapses, such as “tasting” a single emotion several weeks later, re-experiencing a vision of the future unintentionally, and hearing the muffled words of someone with whom the user had telepathic contact while under the effects of Reality X.
Extreme psychic side effects of extended and abusive use include psychic dysfunctions such as an inability to distinguish hallucinated futures from real ones, being unable to see the present and instead only ever seeing moments into the future, and hearing multiple instances of one’s own thoughts in echo with each other that may not go away for up to several years.
Non-psychic side effects include short term memory loss, prolonged daydreaming, difficulty focusing, and in more extreme cases psychosis, paralysis, (i.e. the mind believing its limbs aren’t real or forgetting they exist) and potentially death can result.
Application Method: Injection
Supplier: House Serpens
Skullfire[]
Owing its name to one of its primary ingredients, the chemical compound used by a hunting Stratokwane, Skullfire is incredibly difficult to produce but dangerously powerful if acquired. The compound can most efficiently be harvested after a Stratokwane has used its aerosolized burst in the hunt of a Baqaraltalal by collecting it from any remains or any surfaces and plants affected by the burst in the vicinity. Otherwise, it can also be gathered from a recently deceased Stratokwane, but owing to their importance in Hroan ecology this process can only legally be attempted if the Stratokwane dies naturally.
Sometimes referred to as a “psychic steroid,” Skullfire produces dangerously chaotic changes and amplifications in the psychic output of its user. It cannot be relied upon to give any single desired effect, and can sometimes be more harmful to the user than those around them. While attempts have been made to turn Skullfire into a more consistent “psychic booster,” for use in combat scenarios, results so far have only made the drug more volatile instead of less.
Examples of recorded psychic effects for Skullfire include erratic self-healing in very small amounts, unnaturally strong, but inconsistent, Telekinetic abilities, random and uncontrollable teleportation over short distances, unwilled countering of one’s own psychic abilities, obsessively collecting objects the psychic believes they will need up to a month in the future, hoarding them, and briefly being able to utilize powers beyond the user’s training.
Because of the enormous randomness of this drug derived from how it interacts with each individual psychic and how it interacts in a given moment, most people see it as unusable, dangerous, and undesirable. However, there are always those foolish enough to risk trying it in the hopes that it will benefit them or who simply enjoy creating chaos despite the potential dangers. It is worth noting that a psychic does not lose the ability to attempt use of their psychic abilities as normal, but rather is afflicted with these random, uncontrollable effects in addition to their existing abilities. Additionally, a psychic’s focused school (Telekinesis, Biopsionics, etc.), has no bearing on what strange psychic effects they may encounter while under the effects of Skullfire.
Once its effects have worn off, Skullfire often results in various levels of “psychic muting,” causing the user to be temporarily unable to use their psychic powers to their full potential for up to a day. The level of interference depends on the severity of effects experienced while using Skullfire. Unusually, rare individuals who find their psychic nature undesirable have been known to use Skullfire in attempts to permanently “mute,” their own abilities with minimal success.
Side effects include temporary access to minor abilities of different psychic trainings as though the user had always known them, temporary or permanent loss of a single, specific psychic ability, temporary inability to control how and when one’s own powers take effect, and “psychic white noise,” an effect that causes a psychic to temporarily or perpetually “hear,” their own psychic aura. This effect can range from a muted, constant drone to an overwhelming, maddening barrage of sound that may render the afflicted individual insane.
Notably, when used by non-psychics, Skullfire has the same general effect as “Wild Psychic Talent,” (see the SWN Revised Book), but the duration is sometimes brief and other times permanent. A non-psychic will only ever gain a single psychic power from Skullfire, even with repeated usage, and repeated uses may cause similar side effects to those experienced by actual psychics using Skullfire.
Application Method: Injection, Pill, Oral
Supplier: Redacted
Scream[]
Highly illegal, despised, and incredibly difficult to procure, Scream owes its name to one of the most devastating events in the history of the universe. Scream is, in fact, not a drug in the traditional sense, but the psychic equivalent of a virus developed at some point before the Scream and lingering in small, hidden amounts around Acheron Rho. Rumors suggest it has been reverse-engineered, but if it has the amount that is producible is so small and the process so long that it will be a very long time before any meaningful new quantity is generated.
Breathed in as an aerosol, Scream will shutter a psychic’s mind to anything beyond their own within minutes, except for the most highly skilled and trained, who often still face severe stunting in their abilities. Fortunately for the psychic, this effect is rarely permanent, as their psychic nature has not been somehow purged from them. Unfortunately for the psychic, something far more dangerous takes place within themselves.
Scream creates a feedback loop, drawing on most if not all of the victim’s psychic energy and channeling it into what is effectively a “mental bomb.” This buildup will continue until reaching a critical mass, causing devastating harm and painful consequences for the victim’s body.
The effects are generally more severe the more powerful the psychic. The first is an almost unbearably painful migraine that travels downwards from the brain into the spine of the victim, sometimes causing the victim to be unable to move or walk from the sheer amount of pain experienced. The victim may then be rendered temporarily blind, deaf, or incapable of coherent speech for up to several days. In rare cases, those affected by Scream have been known to gone into shock or a comatose state, some even dying outright from adverse effects to the brain.
The pain will gradually subside over the course of one to two weeks with proper care and treatment, but victims who are not quickly taken to a hospital will suffer longer and more painfully with an increased chance of death or potentially insanity. Scream is not a substance any should ever look to find or use.
Application Method: Aerosol, Inhaled
Supplier: Redacted
Fae’s Folly[]
Fae’s folly is a bizarre substance shrouded in secrecy rumored to only be effective on the surface of Hroa. Reports suggest that the substance, made from an unknown cocktail of ingredients, is capable of granting psychic powers to those without MES on a temporary basis. As a result, some people will actively travel to Hroa and attempt to seek it out in the hopes that they might experience what it is like to be a psychic, not fully understanding the danger they chase.
The psychic powers granted by Fae’s Folly are not temporary because they eventually wear off, but because Fae’s Folly will outright kill its user after a certain amount of time has elapsed. A body not born with MES is not properly capable of working with the extreme changes put upon it by Fae’s Folly, and will almost always suffer instantaneous death from a rapidly growing hernia in the brain. Rumors suggest that in a very small number of cases, Fae’s Folly has not killed the user, but no known, confirmed cases of this exist.
Side effects are relatively unknown beyond granting psychic powers to those without MES. However, those with MES using Fae’s Folly will temporarily gain minimal abilities in psychic disciplines beyond what they normally have access to, and afterwards often suffer little more than an uncomfortable headache and nausea. However, repeated use of Fae’s Folly can result in “Psychic Transmutation,” in those with MES, where the body forgets its traditionally known disciplines and becomes only capable of disciplines in the school acquired through the use of Fae’s Folly. Interestingly, upon leaving Hroa, those afflicted with Psychic Transmutation will revert to their originally learned disciplines, much like how Fae’s Folly does not seem to work in any capacity beyond the surface of Hroa.
Application Method: Gel strip, Consumable Powder
Supplier: Redacted
BlurLight[]
Sometimes called “a fun way to burn the house down,” BlurLight derives most of its effect from two ingredients - the distilled adrenal glands of a Blurr Dragon and one of the more common, liquid MES medications on the market. Developed by hunters and poachers, BlurLight is designed to both increase the thrill of the hunt and allow those pursuing their prey to do so unhindered by their own physical and mental limitations.
Taken as either an injection or a drinkable but harsh-tasting fluid, BlurLight increases dopamine in the brain and heightens feelings of pleasure and ecstasy. Simultaneously, it sharpens the focus of the mind, numbs the body to feelings of tiredness and exhaustion, and dulls the effects of psychic strain on the minds of those with MES.
Because the body is no longer capable of properly understanding both its physical and psychic limitations, users of BlurLight often feel as though they can push forward without limits. Physically, this can lead to exhaustion, dehydration, and sudden unconsciousness as the drug begins to wear off. Psychically, BlurLight removes the minds ability to perceive how much strain it has put itself under, leading to rapid exhaustion of psychic resources and potentially accidental Torching, or the dangerous belief that Torching won’t adversely affect the body.
Side effects include rapid loss of energy as the drug wears off, addictive tendencies towards pushing the body and mind, blurred vision, and a lingering mental numbness. In rarer and more severe cases, if the use of BlurLight becomes abusive, the user may experience sudden, but brief comatose states after the drug has worn off, an increasing and sometimes permanent inability to perceive one’s own psychic limitations, the shutdown of certain organs from over-exertion and BlurLight poisoning, and potentially death.
BlurLight is dangerous for psychics and non-psychics alike because of its strong, natural high and the lingering addictiveness of being able to push the body beyond its perceived limits. However, the drug is generally accepted as legal in moderation and with supervision due to the high, concurrent dosages required before truly terrible side effects begin to take hold on the body and mind.
Application Method: Injection, Drinkable Serum
Supplier: Rumored To Be House Serpens
Slumber[]
Perhaps the mildest of psychically related drugs, Slumber is effectively the candy of the psychic drug world, and one of the most common introductory drugs available. The ease with which its intensity and effects can be controlled through simple dosage adjustments, along with its naturally low-intensity effects and side effects, lend greatly to this, and some have even been known to give this substance to children as a calming medication.
Slumber’s primary effects are a slight to moderate relaxed and calm sensation, reduced stress, dampening of psychic auras and abilities, and mild drowsiness. It can be taken either in a powdered form or in specially sold packages of straws with granules of Slumber inside them. An unusual characteristic is Slumber’s ability to blend quite naturally with almost anything in terms of flavor, from hot chocolate to alcohol, adding a slight sweetness and aromatic taste to the flavor of whatever it is mixed with. In controlled doses, Slumber can be an effective method of calming children or preparing them for bed, and for adults an increased dosage can bring an increasingly chill vibe that caps out before any major damage or troubling effects occur.
Side effects can include dulled emotions, either increased or reduced focus (varying by user), lightheadedness, and a headache the morning after, usually mild, but sometimes as painful as a migraine with too high a dosage. Slumber is both well liked and terrifying because of these lowkey side effects, making it more universally usable but also acting as a gateway drug to harder, more dangerous substances.
Application Method: Powder, Granules
Supplier: House Serpens
Takumi Tanya’s Multi-Sensational Drugs[]
Technically not a single drug, Takumi Tanya’s Multi-Sensational Drugs is a unique brand of mild psychic substances sold in randomized packages of many different powders or granules. While some of the selections included do have varying effects depending on preparation, harvesting, and other factors, others always have the same effect but may not be found in each package. Boasting over thirty different possible substances, including a few rotating slots, Takumi Tanya’s comes with the specific warning that certain combinations can be more dangerous or effective than others if consuming several drugs at once, and that the user be cautious with any experimentation they may attempt.
The exact origin of the each drug for Takumi Tanya’s is unknown, as there are so many and some come and go, but many hypothesize that purchasing agreements may be in place behind the scenes with other drug suppliers and producers in the Sector.
Because of its somewhat random nature, there is no one effect or side effect that can be applied to Takumi Tanya’s with reasonable certainty. Additionally, the selected drugs are all powders or granular in nature and dyed random colors to prevent easy identification. Nearly any drug in Acheron Rho, barring illegal ones, could possibly be somewhere in a package of Takumi Tanya’s, with each holding approximately five different drugs. Some have even theorized that Takumi Tanya’s producer makes a small number of drugs themselves to add into the circulation to further obfuscate identification without proper laboratory equipment or a keen, learned analyzer.
This drug is classified as “psychic,” because at least one psychic drug seems to always have a habit of finding its way into a package Takumi Tanya’s.
Application Method: Various Powders
Supplier: House Serpens
Space Christmas[]
Named after a long-forgotten Terran holiday of drinking and debauchery about offering material sacrifices to a coniferous tree god, Space Christmas is a very fine, white powder with light blue flecks that sifts almost like powdered sugar or a very light snow. Collected from a deep sea coral in the Hroan oceans and a winterized root on Staklaklou, Space Christmas owes a number of its unusual effects to its Hroan ingredient specifically.
The deep sea coral, being naturally closer to the Doom of Hroa, is more heavily affected by the Doom simply by nature of its proximity. The deeper the coral is harvested, the more potent the effects of the end product, especially the psychic ones. Naturally, most people believe this to be related to water pressure at certain depths, or soil composition, or the interaction of other organisms around the coral, not realizing the existence of the massive creature within Hroa itself and the power it exudes.
The primary, non-psychic effects of Space Christmas include extreme euphoria, to the point that the user will often remain in one place, sitting or lying down in a state of ecstatic enjoyment, their dopamine levels skyrocketing. This is coupled with a strong, warmth within the body and extreme sensitivity to physical touch, causing a tingling sensation across the skin and sometimes, allegedly, under it.
For those without MES, psychic effects are minimal, but may include a precognitive stutter in reality, minor and intermittent, that is sometimes likened to hallucinations. An object may appear several feet to the right for less than a second because it will be moved to the new location at some point in the future, but the information moves so quickly, and sometimes inaccurately, that it is virtually useless, especially while already under the effects of Space Christmas. Theorists have suggested the inaccurate movement of objects could be some sort of interdimensional glimpse, or more likely a non-Psychic mind parsing the data inaccurately. Testing for such a thing, however, has proven difficult.
For Psychics, Space Christmas creates a telepathic aura, even for those who have not studied the ways of telepathy, that interacts only with the minds of others using the drug. This aura essentially merges the thoughts of two or more users, which some might see as useful, but once Space Christmas has worn off users remember nothing of whatever thoughts or conversations may have been exchanged. Inhibitions between two or more users are drastically reduced, leading to the frequent sharing of deeply intimate memories and thoughts, as well as strong urges to become physically intimate with other Space Christmas users in proximity.
However, as mentioned above, once the drug has worn off, users will not be able to recollect whatever thoughts or experiences were shared, and no amount of mind probing, psychic or scientific, can retrieve these things. It has been theorized that any thoughts are only accessed telepathically, never stored, and experiences are, for whatever reason, not committed to memory for MES users. The memories simply don’t exist to be accessed once Space Christmas has been flushed from the system.
Because of its somewhat extreme nature, Space Christmas comes with a number of side effects, including decreased inhibitions and increased magnanimity after use, heightened optimism, and slight damage to long term memories if the substance is used to frequently. In more extreme cases, Space Christmas can result in desensitization to physical and emotional trauma, analgesia, and benign tumors generally occurring in the head to upper torso.
Application Method: Powder, Consumable
Supplier: House Serpens